By Bruce Sayler
The 62-43 Butte Central win over Hamilton Saturday might have been the Maroons’ best game and win of this Southwestern A Conference high school boys’ basketball season.
The Maroon Activities Center home crowd liked it. Head coach Brodie Kelly, who has guided many BC big, important wins over his tenure, did, too.
“I think we had a really good fourth quarter,” Kelly gave. “But, the key, I think, is that when they cut (the Butte Central lead) to three (points) near the end of the third quarter, we hit two big 3s.”
Butte-rooted Jake McCarthy buried a 3-point basket with 1-minute, 7 seconds left in the third quarter to narrow Hamilton’s deficit to 36-33. A sizeable Broncs following cheered the comeback.
Jaxon Hiatt and Joshua Sutton then nailed back-to-back treys for the Maroons and they controlled a 42-33 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Cartier Ferguson netted a pair of free throws for the Broncs to start the last period before the BC squad took off on an 11-0 run that included two 3-pointers by Hiatt and an and-one play by Ryan Peoples before Sutton capped the run with a layup off a Giovanni Fantini steal and fast-break pass.
Suddenly, Butte Central was ahead by 19 and less than 5 minutes remained in the contest.
Kelly agreed the team’s defense was sterling through the game, but “we did let them get loose a couple of times in transition.”
“A big difference was putting Ryan Peoples in the high post,” the coach added. “He was getting touches in the high-post area and doing a lot of damage for us.”
Kelly said assigning the 6-foot-2 Peoples, usually a shooting guard, to the high post to go against Hamilton’s bigger players, including 6-7 sophomore Cash Lockhart, was suggested by assistant coach Colin Hollow.
“Our assistants get a lot of the credit, tonight,” he said about Hollow, Renzy Kelly, Alex Murphy and Kyle Holter. “They really helped simplify for the guys what we were doing.”
Kelly said defense was a major focus in this week’s practices after suffering a 67-40 loss at Frenchtown Tuesday night.
“We really worked hard on our main principles of defense,” he said. “And, we got through screens a lot better, tonight, than we did Tuesday.”
Tough physical ball by both teams resulted in an 8-all tie through one quarter before the Maroons managed a 20-14 advantage at halftime, thanks to Peoples making two foul shots and then canning a 3-pointer in the last 1:09 of the half.
Then, the BC bunch opened the second half with baskets by Sutton, Hiatt and Fantini to widen the gap to 26-14. Hamilton bombed back into the contest on 3-pointers by McCarthy, Trevyn Bakken and Taylor Doleac and whittled the margin to 36-30 before McCarthy’s final trey.
The 5-10 senior is the son of Butte Central alum and former Montana State and Montana State-Billings head women’s basketball coach Frank McCarthy.
The teams combined for 19 made 3-pointers with the Maroons registering 11 of them. Sutton and Hiatt had four apiece, and Peoples, Cade Kelly and Noah Sutton each drained one.
Bakken finished with 13 points to lead the Broncs and McCarthy notched 12. Doleac came off the bench to grab 10 rebounds. The loss dropped Hamilton to 3-4 in conference games, 3-10 overall.
Butte Central, 12-2 and 7-1, was led by Josh Sutton, whose 22 points give him 910 for his career. Hiatt finished with 16 points and Peoples with 15. Also, Cade “Buzz” Kelly notched four and Fantini had two. BC shot 53 percent from the field, 52 percent from 3-point range.
The Maroons are to play a non-conference game at Livingston on Tuesday in their next game.
HAMILTON (3-10, 3-4) – Kaden Gum 1-2 0-0 2, Jake McCarthy 4-7 0-0 12, Trevyn Bakken 5-11 0-0 13, Cartier Ferguson 1-3 4-6 6, Cash Lockhart 2-4 1-1 5, Taylor Doleac 1-6 0-0 3, Cooper Weston 1-2 0-0 2, Easton Hollis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-35 5-7 43.
BUTTE CENTRAL (12-2, 7-1) – Ryan Peoples 4-10 6-10 15, Cade Kelly 1-2 1-3 4, Joshua Sutton 8-13 2-3 22, Giovanni Fantini 1-2 0-0 2, Jaxon Hiatt 6-9 0-0 16, Noah Sutton 1-4 0-0 3, Burkley Lakkala 0-0 0-0 0, Henly Mansanti 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-40 9-16 62.
Hamilton 8 6 19 10 – 43
Butte Central 8 12 22 20 – 62
3-point goals – Hamilton 8-19 (McCarthy 4-6, Bakken 3-8, Doleac 1-4, Weston 0-1), Butte Central 11-21 (Peoples 1-2, Kelly 1-1, J. Sutton 4-8, Fantini 0-1, Hiatt 4-5, N. Sutton 1-4). Fouled out – none. Total fouls – Hamilton 14, Butte Central 10. Technicals – none. Rebounds – Hamilton 25 (Doleac 10), Butte Central 17 (Peoples 3, Kelly 3, J. Sutton 3). Blocks – Hamilton 0, Butte Central 2 (Kelly 1, Hiatt 1). Assists – Hamilton 10 (Bakken 4), Butte Central 15 (J. Sutton 4). Steals – Hamilton 3 (Bakken 2), Butte Central 7 (J. Sutton 2). Turnovers – Hamilton 17, Butte Central 7.
